Always and Forever
by astrokath
Summary: It took time, hard work and a heck of a lot of patience to tame Sean's heart.


_Author's notes: This is a series of ten drabbles written as a Yuletide Treat for Chokolattejedi on AO3, beginning with Sorka's infuriation at Sean's apparent ingratitude after Cricket's birth and going on from there._

* * *

_Colony date 15.01.02_

He'd watched the nesting queen for days, hoping to catch and tame her, but he'd never have managed it even without her interference. The wild queen was smart and fiercely independent - and such creatures had no interest in being tamed, no matter what you tempted them with, how much you desired them, or how long you strived to gain their trust. Oh, you could blind a hatchling with food and affection... but break that trust and they'd be gone for good.

For a wild thing who'd never trusted at all... even dreams made real weren't enough to open that heart.

* * *

_Colony date 22.01.02_

Sean was standing on the porch, a bundle of heavy canvas in his arms and a skittish look in his bright blue eyes.

"Can you... can you ask your Mam if she can teach me to sew?" he said in a rush.

Couldn't his own mam do that? "There're three machines in the schoolroom that anyone can use. Eba can teach you."

Sean mumbled something indistinct.

"It's for Cricket, isn't it?" Sorka said softly. Barely a week old, and that colt had already won Sean's heart.

"Don' you dare tell!" he said insistently.

As if she would! "I promise, Sean."

* * *

_Colony date 26.04.05_

The extra bookmarks in her science texts had been the first sign. Finding her work-experience chores already done, and scrawled suggestions pinned to one pen or another were the next. After that, Sorka made a habit of leaving her course notes open and her terminal unsecured.

"He's right, you know," her Dad said. He'd barely added any comments of his own to her essay; Sean's marginal notations had already accounted for most of her few mistakes. "Always remember: animals can't talk, and a vet should never skimp on differential diagnosis. That aside, good work, Sorka. And tell Sean the same!"

* * *

_Colony date 12.09.05_

"That one's yours, Sorka," Bay said, "and the largest is Sean's."

"A gold?" Sean echoed doubtfully.

"Red insisted. He says you deserve it after all your hard work. Blossom might think it's erratic to put valuable science into the hands of youngsters, but you're both experienced dragonet owners, and that's what we need to properly assess the mentasynth adaptions."

"Thank you, Bay," Sorka said dutifully, but inside she was raging. Not out of jealousy that Sean was to have a gold - but because of the reasoning behind it. So, her Dad _still_ didn't think Sean was good enough for her?

* * *

_Colony date 24.13.06 _

Sorka smoothly moved aside, clearing Sean's path to the door. He rarely let his anger out, and then only in complete privacy. She knew the signs well enough, but it still came as quite a shock when he exploded, right then and there.

Eventually, the storm of his rage blew out, and he immediately set to work gathering up the now scattered pile of flimsies. Only when everything was in order again did he turn to her, an apology in his eyes.

"I overreacted, didn't I?"

"Completely," she agreed, her heart singing with joy. _He trusts me! He_ loves _me!_

* * *

_Colony date 05.04.08: Year 1 of the Present Pass. _

Every bush and every last blade of blue-green grass was gone.

In their place, strange tarry masses dotted the naked soil, but the dragonets paid them no mind. The blackened husks might not be entirely harmless, but they were no immediate threat to life, Sorka decided. She nudged Doove closer to Cricket, and stretched out her hand towards Sean. Saying nothing, he took hold of it, and squeezed.

They were still a few klicks from home when they found David Catarel, standing stock-still and bleeding in the middle of the devastation.

It held nothing to the emptiness in his eyes.

* * *

_Colony date 19.07.08: Year 1 of the Present Pass.  
_

Kitti Ping was even smaller than Sorka had expected. She also had the most genuine, heart-warming smile that Sorka had seen in weeks.

"It is not a simple thing, to bring a new lifeform into being," Kitti said. "But what worthwhile things have ever been simple? Can you think of anything, girl?"

"It was simple chance that Sean and I Impressed the dragonets in the first place."

Kitti's smile deepened. "Was it? Was it chance that put you both at the heart of this program, that will place one of my dragons in your care? Perhaps. But equally... perhaps not."

* * *

_Colony date 17.09.08: Year 1 of the Present Pass._

"But what if I _can't_ love a baby like I love Faranth?"

"Oh, Sorka," her Mam murmured. "Do you think I loved you any less when Brian was born, or Simon, Pat or Maureen? Love's not something we run out of. You'll know that for truth as soon as the little one arrives, I promise!" Then, her face creased into warm sympathy. "But it's not the babe you're worried about. It's Sean, yes? Sean, who loves his Carenath, and might love your babe-to-be, but doesn't tell _you_ what you need to hear any more?"

Sorka sighed. "Oh, Mam!"

* * *

_Colony date 10.05.09: Year 2 of the Present Pass._

Pride filling her heart fit to bursting, Sorka watched as Admiral Benden returned her husband's salute. She barely heard Sean's next words over the cheers that erupted around them all over again, and then nothing else at all when the dragons added their own deafening bellows to the noise. The two men embraced, then spoke some more, and then they both turned to face her.

"Sorka!" Sean bellowed. "Get on over here, woman! Jays, this is your triumph just as much as mine!" He opened his arms wide and tugged her in close. "We did it, love! You and me!"

* * *

_Colony date 22.08.11: Year 4 of the Present Pass._

"Oh," Sorka breathed. Faranth's mind was a well of pleasurable fatigue, edged by a tangled mixture of delight and guilt... newfound realisations that would take some adjusting to. Marriage meant nothing to mating queens - or to their riders. Faranth's desires had been all-consuming and utterly indiscriminate. The dragon who'd caught her had been the best of them all, the one who'd wanted and deserved her the most, and that had been all that mattered to _both_ of them. And if it hadn't been...

Beside her, Sean chuckled then kissed her again. "But that's always been us, Sorka. Always and forever."


End file.
